I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Mark 1-3.

    Every time I read the opening to the Gospel of Mark I am reminded of the play “To Walk in the Way,” which is based on the Gospel of Mark. I was part of an acting group which performed this play. Our director re-imagined the play in a way which made this opening scene very powerful. Ever since then whenever I read the beginning of the Gospel of Mark it strikes me in a powerful way. Here we have John the Baptist, a strange man who eats insects and honey and who wears uncomfortable clothing. He preached a message of repentance and forgiveness. The key being the part about repentance. Repentance is one of those words which we Christians use that should not need to be defined for people, but probably does. Repentance is the act of having and expressing regret and remorse for something we have done. If you are planning to do it again, you are not repentant. If you are truly repentant you will take measures to avoid giving into the temptation to repeat the action, perhaps even extreme measures. So, are we truly repentant of our sins? What measures have you, have I, taken to avoid the temptation to repeat those sins?

    Perhaps I am missing something, but it seems to me that Mark tells us what his Gospel is about when he describes Jesus calling Simon Peter and Andrew. Mark is telling us that the rest of the book is about how we can “fish for men.” In a way, Mark is telling us that his Gospel is about how we can fulfill the Great Commission. So, how did Jesus attract followers? The answer is that He went to where people were seeking and preached to them. An important aspect of Jesus’ teaching was that He did not use the “appeal to authority” argument to support His teachings. He asked people to judge His teachings on the basis of what those teachings were, not on the basis of the authority figures who backed them up.

    However, Jesus did not stop with preaching. He also met their needs. He cast out demons, he healed the sick, he offered forgiveness. As I read it this way I see a gradually growing exposition about how to draw people to Christ. As we read on we see that Jesus was willing to confront assumptions about what it means to be a good person. He was willing to spend time with those who made no pretense of being good people. I am going to go away from my theme for a moment, because it takes us back to the idea of repentance. Those who think they are righteous will not, cannot repent, only those who know they are sinners will/can repent. Of course, there is a lesson related to the theme of attracting people to follow Jesus: those who think they are good people will not choose to follow Jesus because they do not think they need to, while those who know they are sinners may choose to follow Jesus because they know that they need His healing.